Details Unveiled for Putin’s ‘Sovereign’ Gaming Consoles: One Features Homegrown Elbrus CPU, the Other a Chinese Clone — Russian Government Concedes Inability to Rival PS5 or Xbox

When it comes to creating a homegrown gaming system, countries often face the tough choice of either falling short due to insufficient resources or ending up with imitations that lack true originality. In an interesting turn of events after Putin’s springtime directive to establish a Russian game console, the local industry seems to be exploring both paths. On one front, there’s a plan to craft a unique console powered by the indigenous Elbrus processor, according to Habr.com. Meanwhile, RBC reports that another avenue being pursued is building a cloud gaming platform using affordable consumer technology, yet branding it as a “sovereign” solution.

Let’s dig into what’s brewing with this Russian console project. Powered by the Elbrus processor, which is built around a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture, initially intended for complex and vital computing tasks. Unfortunately, when it comes to sheer performance in gaming, Elbrus leaves much to be desired. Benchmarks have largely labeled it as “completely unacceptable” for most common applications.

As a result, the anticipated console isn’t really aiming to rival the performance of gaming heavyweights like the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S. This has spurred Russian officials to urge developers to think outside the box to skirt these technical limitations.

“My hope is that my colleagues will take this challenge seriously and produce something truly innovative,” expressed Anton Gorelkin, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. He further noted, “It’s clear to everyone: Elbrus processors aren’t yet on par with PS5 or Xbox capabilities, so we need to devise an unconventional solution.”

This “unconventional” route might involve scaling down games to a level manageable for the Elbrus CPUs, though one might question if players with access to top-tier global games would settle for these ‘simplified’ versions. Alternatively, leveraging cloud-based processing could be a path forward, requiring robust, low-latency internet for gamers to enjoy their experiences fully.

Beyond just housing retro titles, Gorelkin is eager for the console to act as a springboard for promoting Russian-developed games, hinting at a desire for a stronger cultural imprint in the gaming sphere.

Shifting our focus to the cloud gaming initiative, MTS, a leading Russian telecom firm, isn’t being shy about its project. Their offering, dubbed the MTS Fog Play platform, is transparently a cloud-centric gaming service.

The package comes with basic hardware paired with a controller reminiscent of Xbox’s design, all priced around $50. With such an affordable tag, the console itself can’t be expected to handle even basic Android titles. Instead, it will depend heavily on the MTS Fog Play cloud service to support gaming experiences via remote play and game rentals, which would allow owners of more powerful PCs to leverage their own systems while accessing the service’s games.

Neither project has reached store shelves yet, but we’ll be on the lookout for performance data when they do make their debut. Keep your eyes peeled for updates!